Book Review: The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena

Book Review: The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena

Quote: Alisha scoff's at insta-love, calls it an unhealthy trope that doesn't happen in real life. "I mean it's literally not possible for anyone to fall in love when they're so young," she told me once. I square my shoulders and head for the other end of the cafeteria, where Heather and Preeti are seated.

Susan Thomas has every good quality of that quintessential NRI cousin we grow up hearing about. She is super intelligent, obedient, well mannered and knows her mother tongue and never ever aspires for herself. Also happens to be the new girl for her final year in a Canadian high school after studying in an all-girls school in Saudi Arabia. Her once set life starts to change in this new environment, and one particular boy named Malcolm catches her fancy.

Malcolm Vakil, the Canadian born Zorastrian, the borderline depressive-lost-soul-nightmare boy. He smokes, is trying to quit alcohol and drugs, and has had messed up a love affair with a beautiful and impulsive Afrin. 

The book has all the tropes a YA romance needs, from first sight attraction to the old charms of slow burn romance to the cut-scene first kiss. It has misunderstandings, homework, exams, peer pressure, teenage drinking party, messed up parents and of course breakups, and all set against the backdrop of a big event, surprisingly it is not prom but a fundraiser for the Syrian Cause. Yet the book has to offer a lot more, the nearly invisible community of Indian Christian and Zoroastrian immigrants in West. For the first time, we hear narratives from the Zoroastrian community living abroad, and other communities that try to balance between the identity they left behind and the one they try to create in a new land, and the aftermath of this struggle that their children face which is best expressed through the class clown Steve who is not comfortable with his birth name. 

Susan grew up in a conservative nation where they secretly celebrated Christmas, and where dating is a crime while her parents have been nothing but stricter, they planned her whole life out. It's interesting how for the final year of her school education they decide to move to Canada as it has more educational opportunities, yet their mind doesn't explore beyond the two obvious choices Indian Parents are obsessed with: Engineering and Medicine. Also, the constant fear her mother has that Susan will lose her touch with her roots, her tradition, and become like those western kids, makes me question what is meant by those western kids and what roots mate? 

Susan wanting to pursue Art might be the most clichéd thing about the book, yes the desire to study art creates wonderful narrative conflict, it enhances the frustration of the readers, but we have seen this story a multiple times. What I absolutely enjoyed was the frustration this book generated. Susan is frustrated with her incapability to make new friends, her default setting to study all the time and not indulge in anything that is not contributing to her report card makes are the ideal bookworm.

Malcolm is irritated with everything, and everyone, he has I am depressed and messed up vibes from his introductory page, which creates half of his problems. He hates his father for the pain he caused to his dead mother, he smokes and drinks because he is restless and incapable of doing anything about his situation. He loathes his stepmother and is afraid of trusting the adults around him. It's only his sister Mahtab he cares for. It was nice to see him sober up at the end book and trying to give up on the angst he built up against his English teacher and others.

Susan's lack of interest in anything or anyone beyond her education is a byproduct of her parents always pushing her to be excellent. So when she finally cracks and spills over it is cathartic. She also learns the lesson most kids learn the hard way, parents have absolutely no clue what they are doing to their kids. One word or one action or inaction is all it takes to bring out the truth.

I loved the way the author handled the changing dynamics of friendship between Alisha and Susan. Who were always together, now continents apart and facing the impending reality of growing up. They connect through Skype: where they cry, they fight, they talk boys, school,  and discuss life. The girl bonding later in the book Susan forms with Heather and Preeti is what we needed more in the book. Girls supporting girls and not talking about boys, but just enjoying hitting a punching bag. Despite what Afrin does in the book like a typically popular girl trope character does, I couldn't hate her, she was too developed to be a typecast. There were some genuinely funny parts when Malcolm embarrasses Susan by explaining what Netflix and Chill means, it was beautifully put in. Mahtab when not playing the mature one was cracking some really good comebacks.

It's also interesting to see how NRI parents are equally conservative, community pleasers and honour obsessed. In one of the conservation Alisha and Susan have, we learn Alisha's parents in Saudi Arabia have arranged a meeting with a boy Christian Keralaite boy who studies engineering. A seventeen-year-old is being paraded around for the marriage market despite having excellent grades and talents, her life has been sketched. The rebellious but straight A+ student Afrin who has MIT Graduate parents is not spared from the expectations of the community. Her parents want her to date boys from Zoroastrian community. 

I liked Aruna's character, Susan's mother. What she hoped was a romantic marriage at the age of 21 is crumbling apart. A woman who wanted to be a scientist now is trying to live her dreams through her daughter. For eighteen years she played the hostess, the wife, the mother. Now she is thrown into a country that is not exactly welcoming to her. Mothers are not perfect and Aruna is far from it, she is selfish, suffering and scared, the fear of her losing her husband and now her daughter taking decisions and stepping into adulthood takes a toll on her.

I also loved the disenchantment of the trope: saving enough money and moving out of parents home when one turns eighteen. Malcolm realises that early in the book, that a part-time job is not going to get him a place of his own anytime soon. It is not all rosy and hopeful once you join the university. You carry your baggage and past mistakes and hope that life will work out.  

Susan and Malcolm's story ended in a way that would make many cry and angry. But I think the ending is the best thing about this book, they have just entered adulthood and they should not cling to each other just because their hearts and bodies crave each other. Though it indicates towards a happily ever after, I would really be happy be if their intense love fades away soon and turns into a decent friendship. 

Susan deserves better, Malcolm I fear might not be healthy for her in future as a partner.

Book Trivia: There is a small but direct reference to the author's previous book A Girl Like that.

This is a sample copy, I received from Penguin India.

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